Do you belong to a book club that is reading or has read Castle Danger? Great!  I’ve prepared a list of discussion questions you can use to stimulate discussion about the book. Feel free to copy and print this as you like. If you prefer, download the PDF here: Book Club Discussion Questions for Castle Danger by Chris Norbury.

Book Club Discussion Questions for Castle Danger by Chris Norbury

1. What was your initial reaction to the book? Did it hook you immediately, or take some time to get into?
2. At the end of the book, Matt opted to keep running from the law and Smythe, at the cost of leaving Allyson and Josh. Did he make the right choice? What would you have done if you were in this situation?
3. Did Matt do the right thing by stopping Vossler himself? Or, should he have called the authorities and trust they would have saved both Allyson and Josh?
4. Was Vossler justified in trying to regain custody of Josh?
5. What was your favorite quote/passage?
6. Which characters in the book did you like best?
7. Which characters did you like least?
8. If Matt hadn’t elected to go to Castle Danger after the Forest Service planes began searching for him in the BWCAW, where should he have gone instead? OR, should he have hunkered down and try to hide where he was, hoping they somehow wouldn’t find him because he believed he was well camouflaged?
9. Which character in the book would you most like to meet?
10. Minnesota is known for its extreme weather and brutal winters. But if this story had taken place in midsummer and featured no severe weather at crucial moments in the plot, how might the ending have been different? Would Matt have returned to civilization at all? Or, would he have relocated to another wilderness where he could live in secrecy?
11. Going forward, do you see Allyson relapsing into drug addiction? Was that one experience with Vossler giving her heroin in the cabin enough to re-addict her? Is she strong enough to live the rest of her life monogamous and drug-free?
12. Vossler and Allyson weren’t model parents to Josh when they were together. Did either one of them alone deserve to have custody of Josh? What might have been a better option for Josh during the story?
13. Knowing now that living in a remote part of the country comes with the risk that help is not always a few minutes away (i.e., fire, police, medical), is living in a place such as Castle Danger more or less appealing to you now?
14. Assuming Matt eventually no longer has to fear for his life or his freedom (by somehow stopping Smythe and either being cleared of the criminal charges against him or doing prison time for what he allegedly did), do Matt and Allyson have any future together?
15. Did you pick out any themes throughout the book?

Need copies of Castle Danger for your club members? Click below to find your nearest local bookseller.